Donna Dukes, Founder of Birmingham School for Critically At-Risk Students, Shares the ‘Way to Hope’

By Sym Posey | The Birmingham Times Donna Dukes, Founder and Executive Director of Maranathan Academy in Birmingham, knows about the hard truths and triumphs of working with critically at-risk students in the metro area. Founded in 1991, Maranathan Academy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit school and learning center that caters to critically at-risk students — some with little or no support system, others who have been expelled from school, had trouble learning, or may not have the best home life. Dukes said she’s often asked about some of her proven techniques to help critically at-risk students and how she’s found a way to share some of what she knows. On Wednesday, (Feb. 28) Dukes will hold a pre-launch of her book — “This Way to Hope: The Challenges, Hard Truths & Triumphs of Working With Critically At-Risk Students” — at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) beginning at 5 p.m. in the Abraham Woods Community Meeting Room. The book is geared “to bring insight into the plight of critically at-risk students to inspire educators, social workers, all professionals that work on the front lines of the critically at risk populous,” she said. “My prayer and my hope is that the...